Glaring Aussie Olympics problem staring Opals in the face
Aussie basketball icon Shane Heal has exposed a brutal truth about Australia’s Olympics basketball campaign.
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COMMENT
Our Australian Opals have been a World Class outfit since the 1990s.
In fact since 1996 the Opals won five-consecutive Olympic medals including three silvers and two bronze. It’s an incredible feat only surpassed by the Americans.
However, the last two Olympic Games have seen disappointing results in comparison, failing to make the top four in both Tokyo and Rio.
These are results the Opals simply aren’t used to of late.
Going into the Paris Olympics, Australia is ranked 3rd in the world and coach Sandy Brondello has gone with experience as she eyes a podium finish once again.
Seven of the 12 players chosen are 30 years or older, so these Olympics are all about “medal or bust” considering the last two Olympic results.
The team will be headlined by Lauren Jackson, arguably Australia’s greatest ever basketballer, male or female.
Some will question her selection based on her being 43-years-old, but those that know the game understand how she earnt her selection.
In my opinion, she looks better now than she did two years ago. “LJ” will play a valuable role.
Ezi Magbegor is both the now and the future for the Opals. She has built an impressive WNBA and European career and has performed well when representing the Opals.
This tournament is going to be Ezy’s time to step up and lead this team with her impressive defence.
She sometimes plays within herself, but I’m hoping that these Games she shows the world just how good she can be in offence when she backs herself and stays aggressive for herself and to create for others. She really is world class.
Brondello has picked two younger players too. Jade Melbourne and the 19-year-old South Australian, Issy Borlaise. Both have earnt their respective spots. Borlaise is destined for great things in the WNBA with her aggressive style of play and self-belief.
Melbourne, who was recently traded to Washington in the WNBA, has shown flashes of why many have earmarked her as an Opal for years. Both will gain valuable experience on the world stage that I’m sure will pay dividends.
While experience and depth will be a positive for the Opals, age and potential injuries could be the flip side of the coin.
The Olympic competition draw requires players to step up in crunch matches every second day.
This will be a challenge for ageing bodies and we will all be touching wood they can get through the rigorous tournament unscathed.
Last week fans held their collective breath when Steph Talbot left her WNBA game with an injury in the second quarter, and Bec Allen pulled out of her WNBA game in warm-ups.
Both are believed to be OK and both are critical to Australia’s hopes of seriously competing for a gold medal.
Talbot was Australia’s best player at the recent World Cup where the Opals secured a Bronze on home soil.
She led the Opals on both ends of the floor and was named to the All- Tournament team. She unfortunately tore her ACL in the WNBL the following season and has worked her way back to full fitness.
The other question mark is around the preparation the team has had leading into Paris.
Coach Sandy Brondello also coaches the New York Liberty in the WNBA, which is in full swing right now. It meant that Brondello couldn’t join the Opals in person as players competed for selection in tours of China and Japan, and home games in Melbourne.
And while there is familiarity with the system, the seven Australian players in the WNBA this season have not yet played a lead-up game in the green and gold, with Paris now 11 days away.
They will shortly join the five Australian-based players selected in the final team such that the whole team is together only a week or so before the first game. It’s not ideal.
Those based on home soil are flying to Europe on Monday night.
It’s a balancing act for Basketball Australia, the benefit of having a highly credentialed and successful coach like Sandy Brondello, but not having her available for tours and to build an in-person connection with the team in the lead up to this crucial event.
Australia will meet host country France in the Group Phase on August 4, and will play against a well-drilled team very familiar with one another. Their WNBA-calibre talent stayed in France rather than playing in the WNBA this season, especially so as to maximise team preparations for a home Olympics.
I don’t think anyone would begrudge our players earning a living and playing in the world’s best league, but it poses some challenges for all countries fortunate enough to have so much world-class talent desirable to WNBA teams.
All that being said, I believe that the Opals can once again return to the podium in Paris and show why they are a powerhouse in women’s basketball.
- Shane Heal is a four-time Olympic basketball star for the Boomers, including captaining the 2004 Athens Olympic team. He is writing exclusively for news.com.au during the Paris Olympics.
Originally published as Glaring Aussie Olympics problem staring Opals in the face
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